Like Escher, only with Fairies…

Ok, skipping temporarily past November, I thought I’d make a break for the finale of my calendar, mainly because I had an idea about Christmas crackers and party hats, and it made sense to draw this one while it was in my mind.

So… 12 fairies for December. All other things being equal, the most complex composition. Fortunate really:

December calendar sketch: just like Escher, only with more fairies

The result looks a lot like a composition by M C Escher to me, which actually surprised me as it didn’t look like that in my head! I thought a bunch of fairies all simultaneously pulling Christmas crackers would be nicely festive, and those with crossed-over arms, like the one bottom centre are also somewhat reminiscent of a circle of people singing Auld Lang Syne for New Year, which seemed also appropriate.

It became clear soon enough though, that a circle of 12 fairies all around the edge of the paper was going to be a bit more of a squeeze than I wanted, so I squared off the A3 sheet of paper and we have a ‘square’ circle which loops into an inner circle. The crackers go all the way around everybody, but it’s got a bit hard to tell at this point.

Someone asked could the fairies overlap in the larger compositions, to fit enough in, and I said yes, there was no reason why not. Well, apparently there is a reason why not: the fairies simply don’t seem to want to!